Why Strength Training for Women

Why Strength Training for Women?
​I'm often asked this question and I’d like to tell you more about why I’m so pro strength training, and why I think it’s the best type of training for women.
The best way to answer this question is to start by giving you a brief description of what strength training is and then ALL the benefits to Women of Strength Training.
 
What is strength training?
Strength training is a type of physical exercise that you perform to build and improve your muscular strength. Strength being the ability to exert force against a resistance.  The physical exercise will be a type of resistance training, using either free weights, resistance machines, bands or bodyweight. Anything that when lifted, pushed, pulled or moved causes the muscles to contract. With the correct exercises, amount of resistance, and regular practice the muscles will adapt and become stronger.

Georgie performing the Full Side Plank!

​It helps you to lose body fat and weight 
This is the one of the benefits that a lot of women get excited about and want to learn more about. When we build strength, we build muscle and muscles need a source of fuel to work and to grow. This fuel comes from the food that we eat and energy in our body which includes our fat stores.
This means the stronger we are and the more muscle mass we have, the more calories we will burn. This means our metabolisms will become faster and our bodies’ fuel will get used up much more quickly and efficiently.
 
It means we can eat more
Yes, this is true! A faster metabolism means that our bodies will process everything at a much faster speed. The more muscle we build the more we need to eat to feed, fuel and repair those muscles. Also remember our digestive system is part of our metabolic rate, so eating more also speeds up our metabolism. It’s a win-win situation!
A good example of metabolism speed I’ll take from my long-distance running days. I would occasionally let the running dominate my training, and not do so much weight training. I would then put on weight – fat! This leads me to my next benefit….

It burns calories faster 24 hours a day
When we do aerobic type exercise, such as running, cycling, walking etc at a moderate rate, we burn calories at a much faster speed than when we are at rest. After our aerobic session, we continue to burn calories at a faster rate for about 2 more hours, gradually slowing down as we slow down to our rest state. However, when we strength train, that initial slowdown happens, but does not continue. The reason being that after our strength training session our muscles then go through a process of repair and growth, which needs fuel. The muscle then becomes stronger and needs more fuel than it previously did. This continues 24/7!

Eleanor making her core stronger with Dorsal Raises :)

It gives your body a great shape!
It’s our body’s muscles that gives shape and tone. For example, it’s the strength and muscles in our bottoms that creates that peachy, round, lifted shape. Or what about those arms? Strong arms will be firm, without the flappy, jiggly wobble that women often have on the backs of their upper arms. Women often say to me, ‘I’d like to tone my body.’ In real terms this means making your body and muscles stronger, because that is what gives our bodies shape and definition.
 
‘Helps to tone my butt and make my upper body strength better.’  Kirsteen 59
 
It helps to increase our testosterone levels
I want to mention this, as this is something that a lot of women are concerned about. Firstly, testosterone is an important hormone for women. It helps us to sleep, it helps our libido, boosts our mood, is important for bone density/strength, for muscle mass (which becomes increasingly important as we get older) and a general feeling of wellbeing.
Women often avoid strength training because they’re worried about getting bulky, muscular and looking like a man. Naturally (without anabolic steroids) this cannot happen. The reason being that on average men have around 20 times more testosterone in their bodies as women do. I am now 46 years old and at an age when my testosterone levels should be going down, they are at the higher end of the measurement scale. I am by no means big and bulky and I’ve been strength training for 26 years!
 
‘I’m getting stronger and building up my reliance. It’s so positive. It pushes me to achieve what I never thought possible.’  Georgie 20
 
It helps our bones to be strong
Yes, strength training helps to strengthen our bones, to keep them strong and to decrease our risk of osteoporosis. This is because strength training increases our bone mass. As we age and our testosterone levels naturally decrease so does our bone mass. By strength training and having a healthy diet we can change the normal decline that getting older would normally mean for our bones.

Lorraine getting her back stronger with Scapula Retractions, using a resistance band.

It slows down muscle mass loss 
Usually starting in our 30s we will lose on average between 3-5% of our muscle every decade thereon. This means as we get older our bodies will become increasingly physically weaker and more prone to injuries. Several negative factors will contribute to the speed at which we lose muscle: for example, a poor/unhealthy diet, illness, injuries, lack of sleep, lack of activity, a sedentary lifestyle and a lack of resistance training. Along with a healthy diet, strength training will build muscle mass/strength and increase testosterone levels, which will also help to increase muscle.
 
‘Strength training has helped me to increase my strength and flexibility.’ Lesley, 64

It improves posture, core strength, balance and coordination
These are really important factors for a healthy, strong and pain-free body. A strong body means we can lift, bend, move, walk, climb, sit, jump, skip, lie down, roll, stretch, do just about any movement for any period, without feeling pain, or being at risk of injury. A strong body with good posture and core strength will minimize the risk of back pain, injuries from bending and lifting, an achy back from sitting at a desk/computer, tension in the shoulders and neck and related headaches, sore knees/hips, the list is endless!
 
It makes day-to-day life physically easier
Strength training gives you a physically stronger body. This means your body can move around much more efficiently, with much less exertion. The great things that I’ve noticed about being a strong woman is that I can lift and carry quite easily; such as furniture movement and shopping. I passed a car a few years ago where a lady had broken down and she had two small children with her. I pushed her car off the road to safety for her! There’s been a few occasions where I’ve been able to help someone, and it felt good knowing that I was able to this.
 
‘Future proofing my body, so I can keep fit and active for longer.’  Lorraine 47
 
It builds mental strength
Yes, strength training builds a lot of mental strength, discipline and focus! I believe that one helps to build the other, like a constant snowball effect. We start our training and start to see our progress; this requires an element of mental strength. We then improve because we push ourselves to make progress. We’re also eating more healthily to help our progress, which is helping our brains to work better. We get stronger and make more progress, which requires more strength, as we’re now working harder. Do you see the snowball effect? This is gained by a mixture of hard work, progress, achievement, confidence building, increased self-esteem and discipline.
Discipline is another important factor here, which over time grows and becomes another component in your increased mental strength.
 
‘Things I thought I’d never be able or confident enough to do before, I can now do. It’s like playing with an achievable goal in sight.’  Eleanor 25
 
It builds your confidence and self-esteem 
Strength training certainly makes you feel better about yourself. Why wouldn’t it? Your strength, hard work and determination is helping you achieve the goals you set out to achieve! You look great and you feel even better. It’s made you realise that you have the power to do and achieve anything!
 
‘Be healthy, be strong, and build my self-esteem.’ Helen 54

Me performing a planche using the parrellettes!

It makes you feel good!
When you exercise the feel-good chemical endorphins are released, usually with moderate to high effort of training.
I feel what is usually termed a ‘runner’s high’ when I work hard in my workouts and achieve better results than in previous workouts. For example, in strength training it would be in short intense bursts where you’d push yourself to perform better technique, heavier weight, more repetitions or time and so on.  When endorphins are released it gives you the ability to train harder and push yourself further than ever before. It makes you feel awesome!
 
‘I like the feel-good endorphins. I feel them more when I strength train and it’s more of a stress relief.’   Freya 29
 
That’s a total of 12 amazing benefits!
One of my clients recently said to me,
‘Why would anyone not want to be strong?’
She hit the nail right on the head there! There is every good reason to strength train if you want to improve yourself, your health and wellbeing in as many ways as possible.
I’ve strength trained myself since I was 20, so for around 26 years now and taught both men and women for a similar amount of time, although predominately women.
I’ve trained and taught a mixture of different types of strength training such as weightlifting (weight-training, strong woman, powerlifting and olympic lifting) and bodyweight training.
Through my own personal experience and progress and those of the women I’ve trained I’ve seen the most phenomenal results both physically and mentally. The mental self-belief and confidence being one of the most striking!

I believe there is no other type of training that covers so much!

There are lots of important factors about strength training that I’m going to cover in my future blogs, such the different types of strength training. If you're interested in starting strength training, or would just like to learn more to boost the training that you already do, then my aim is to provide you with information that will really help you in your journey.

Please feel free to comment or ask me questions about my blog or send me an email. I'm always here to help and advise :)